Tax evasion?
Colluding with a foreign enemy, selling state secrets—aren't both of these charges far more serious than this?
Besides, which of the things he did were even taxable? Selling state secrets?
Dia was a law graduate in his previous life. The moment he heard this charge, he knew something was off.
Although he was full of doubt, the pen in Dia's hand never stopped for a moment.
At this moment, Cheadle's face was calm, still sitting upright with a smile, and she began to explain the relevant law:
"According to Article 402 of the Criminal Law of the Republic of Mingbo, a taxpayer..."
"...citing the case from the public trial in the Kalbila City Court on July 18, 1978, as well as..."
"The above are the citations of the law and precedents. Judge, please proceed with the cross-examination."
Judge Bell took out his materials and began to read the evidence:
"The defendant, a former officer of the National Defense Force of the Republic of Mingbo, organized a mahjong gambling session with three others at his home on April 15, 1987... The defendant won one thousand seven hundred Jenny from the foreign trade merchant Laka Bozier, and did not report the corresponding tax to the relevant authorities afterward..."
Dia calmly and quickly recorded the court's statements.
He had a feeling that this trial would probably be over in less than half an hour.
The reason lay in the "4-3-1" principle.
The judge had already completed the two steps of presenting the claims and supervising the cross-examination. If everything proceeded quickly, the next step would basically be the pronouncement of the verdict.
Some might ask, with only cross-examination and claims, is there no defense?
Dia surreptitiously glanced at the short-haired, sturdy man.
He had been silent since he entered, his head bowed, making it almost impossible for Dia to see his expression.
If he wasn't mistaken, the defendant's [tongue] had probably been cut out, or his vocal cords destroyed.
After all, the subjects of a Secret Court trial were extremely sensitive "criminals," not "criminal suspects."
Who knew what they might say in court that others shouldn't know.
"...The sentence is hereby pronounced—death, to be carried out immediately!"
As Judge Bell's gavel fell, it seemed everything was settled.
Seeing this, Cheadle skillfully put away her legal documents and tilted her head to watch Dia furiously writing.
Judge Bell also let out a long sigh of relief, just about to break into a smile.
At that very moment, an abrupt voice sounded—
"Hehehe... you running dogs have no idea what you've sent..."
Officer Sangli, the defendant who had been silent from beginning to end, suddenly let out a cold laugh!
Bell's pupils shrank, his just-relaxed nerves suddenly tensing up:
"You, you weren't..."
"Wasn't my tongue cut out? Heh... can't speak without a tongue?"
Officer Sangli opened his mouth as if to show off. Where his tongue should have been, it was replaced by a strange, thick slug-like creature!
A crazed smile appeared on his face as he said frantically:
"Kakin gives much more than you do! I fought and died for this country over a hundred times, and you cut out my tongue!!!"
His demeanor suddenly changed, and he became gloomy and desperate, his voice low:
"I'm definitely not going to make it out of here alive, but don't think you running dogs can escape either!"
The scent of death!
Alarm bells rang in Dia's mind, and the Ripple within his body surged wildly. Something was about to come out!
"Argh—!!"
Officer Sangli suddenly threw his head back and let out a blood-curdling scream. Crimson light leaked from his five senses.
The slug-like creature in his mouth abruptly opened its eyes, crawled out of his mouth, and a terrifyingly malevolent aura burst forth!
Then, his body began to inflate rapidly like a balloon, as if it would burst in the next moment!
In the nick of time!
'The World!'
'Time, stop for me!!'
Dia roared in his mind, summoning his Stand, [The World], without hesitation.
But in the instant before he activated his ability, he saw a hand in a white glove already in front of him.
Voom!!
The world suddenly lost its color. Dia's mind, tensed to the extreme in the face of death, felt as if his subjective time had stopped along with the outside world.
Dia felt as if his entire body had been plunged into mercury; every movement was excruciatingly slow!
'Did I enter bullet time right as time stopped...'
He followed the white-gloved hand upwards and saw a figure in a white sterile suit frozen to his right, in the posture of a full sprint.
From this angle, he could only see the back of the head, but Dia immediately realized the person's identity—it was Cheadle!
In the instant before the threat of death descended, Cheadle, whose reaction speed far surpassed Dia's, decisively did two things.
First, she activated her ability—[Doctor Blythe]—and summoned the sterile suit.
In the next moment, instead of retreating to escape the obvious explosion, she thought of her student—
'Dia! He doesn't have Nen!'
Instantly realizing Dia's perilous situation, Cheadle rushed in front of him at an extremely high speed!
At the same time, the aura on her body began to flow at high speed. Her calm [Ten] erupted into a powerful [Ren] within 0.1 seconds, and almost at the same time, the erupted aura was gathered again, turning into a thick [Ken]!
'I must block the frontal impact, otherwise Dia will surely die...'
Cheadle gritted her teeth, unable to help regretting bringing Dia here.
She didn't know what was happening to Dia behind her, but she knew that if Dia died here, it would undoubtedly be her crime!
In this feeling of time being perpetually frozen, Dia was as calm as a bystander.
'Cheadle, is she trying to protect me...'
Within the stopped time, Dia abruptly sank his center of gravity and, in one fluid motion, bent his knees and leaped backward. The chair behind him was shattered by his back.
At the same time, he unhesitatingly controlled [The World] to grab the back of Cheadle's neck, causing her to fly backward along with him!
Within the 0.7 seconds of stopped time, the two of them flew out of the core of the explosion in mid-air!
BOOM!!!
The terrifying red light instantly engulfed the unresponsive Judge Bell and the bailiffs, while Dia and Cheadle, who had jumped out of the core of the expanding red light, were spared.
But the massive explosion then rapidly fermented in this small space, evolving into an earth-shattering shockwave that slammed heavily into Cheadle, who was shielding Dia!
Outside of the stopped time, Cheadle only felt her vision blur for a moment. The red light that was originally right in front of her had suddenly shifted a great distance backward.
Then, a terrifying impact struck her chest, causing her vision to go black as she was sent flying backward at an incredible speed.
'Ripple!!'
And behind Cheadle, Dia had already crossed his arms in front of him, fully activating his Ripple!
After the first wave of the impact was absorbed by Cheadle, the remaining shockwave and the airborne Cheadle in her sterile suit crashed into him!
Dia flew backward at a terrifying speed, then was lucky enough to hit the iron gate on the wall behind him, crumpling it into a pile of scrap metal before flying into the dark, deep passage!
Boom, boom, boom—!!
Dense cracks crawled up the walls of the courtroom. The shockwaves recoiled and collided with each other, letting out round after round of deafening roars.
The superheated gas in the extremely small space shattered the surrounding walls inch by inch. The majestic airwaves bombarded the hard stone walls, and the small room collapsed in an instant.
Hundreds of millions of tons of earth and rock from above poured down, burying the passage entrance and the room completely...